Nothing will happen until the city of San Jose starts to move toward a lawsuit against MLB because Bud Selig, who is allegedly the commissioner of baseball, is too wishy-washy to make a decision.

Apparently the inaction is not so much because they don't want the Athletics to just up and move to the Giants territory, so much as they worry that if they allow it without some concessions (sort of like what Angelos got when the Expos moved to DC) then everybody would start trying to move into other baseball hot-beds. The Rays, for example, could then go and try to move to New Jersey or Brooklyn.

Nothing will happen until the city of San Jose starts to move toward a lawsuit against MLB because Bud Selig, who is allegedly the commissioner of baseball, is too wishy-washy to make a decision.

What decision? The rules are pretty clear that the only way forward is for the A's to either come to an agreement with the Giants, who don't seem to want to deal, or get together enough votes among the other owners to override the Giants' territorial rights, which also seems unlikely. Neither one of these involves commissioner fiat.

Apparently the inaction is not so much because they don't want the Athletics to just up and move to the Giants territory, so much as they worry that if they allow it without some concessions (sort of like what Angelos got when the Expos moved to DC) then everybody would start trying to move into other baseball hot-beds. The Rays, for example, could then go and try to move to New Jersey or Brooklyn.

I don't think there's any doubt that there would be some concessions to the Giants, and I don't think moving the Bay Area back to the same condition as all other two-team markets (where the two teams share the exact same territorial rights) sets any precedent for the Rays to move to Brooklyn.

As Bhaakon said, I think the issue is that the Giants refuse to deal. The owners were only able to strike a deal with Angelos because he was willing to negotiate--and, unlike here, that involved a team moving into the Orioles' media market. Selig and the owners may be reluctant to broker a deal without the Giants being at the table.

What decision? The rules are pretty clear that the only way forward is for the A's to either come to an agreement with the Giants, who don't seem to want to deal, or get together enough votes among the other owners to override the Giants' territorial rights, which also seems unlikely. Neither one of these involves commissioner fiat.

Oh I don't know, maybe he can finally show the results of his "blue ribbon" panel with regards to what they came up with to influence some of the votes from the owners. Otherwise what was the point of the panel?